Drax is still the UK' s largest emitter

Drax power station is the UK's largest carbon emitter, with 2024 emissions of 13.3 million tonnes of CO2e, a 16% increase over the previous year. Despite the complete phase-out of coal power in September 2024, biomass and gas plants continue to dominate the top emitter rankings. Drax is projected to remain the largest emitter through 2030, even with planned subsidy cuts starting in 2027. Other significant emitters include Port Talbot Steelworks and Pembroke gas power station, while carbon capture deployment across the UK's largest industrial sites has seen limited progress.

• Drax power station is the UK's largest single source of carbon dioxide, emitting 13.3 million tonnes of CO2e in 2024, which represents a 16% increase from the previous year.
• The emissions from Drax are larger than those of the six most polluting gas power plants combined and exceed 10% of the UK's total transport emissions.
• Drax is expected to remain the UK's largest emitter until 2030, despite a government decision in February 2025 to reduce biomass subsidies by approximately half for a four-year period starting in April 2027.
• The UK's coal power phase-out was completed in September 2024 with the closure of the Ratcliffe-on-Soar plant, which had been the fifth largest emitter in 2023.
• Port Talbot Steelworks remained the second largest emitter in the UK with 3.4 MtCO2e, despite a 40% drop in annual emissions following the cessation of production on September 30, 2024.
• Gas power plants represent the most frequent entries in the top 25 emitters list (13 facilities), although total gas generation fell to a 25-year low of 84 TWh (30% of total generation) in 2024.
• Progress on carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) has been slow; the government has admitted its target of 20-30 MtCO2e/year by 2030 is unachievable.
• Lynemouth biomass power station is the 12th largest emitter in the UK, emitting approximately 1.7 MtCO2e, and re-entered the top 25 emitters for the first time since 2021 due to increased generation supported by Contract for Difference subsidies.

APA

Mayo, F. (2025). Drax is still the UK' s largest emitter. Ember. https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2025/07/Drax-is-still-the-UKs-largest-emitter.pdf

Chicago

Mayo, Frankie. Drax is still the UK' s largest emitter. Ember, 2025. https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2025/07/Drax-is-still-the-UKs-largest-emitter.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Mayo |first1=Frankie |title=Drax is still the UK' s largest emitter |publisher=Ember |date=17 July 2025 |url=https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2025/07/Drax-is-still-the-UKs-largest-emitter.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{mayo2025drax, author = {Mayo, Frankie}, title = {{Drax is still the UK' s largest emitter}}, institution = {Ember}, year = {2025}, month = jul, url = {https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2025/07/Drax-is-still-the-UKs-largest-emitter.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }